"I made it out three days ago,'' said Francona, the Boston Red Sox manager who is aware thata even a small tweak can send all of New England into the chat rooms.

That tweak involved Adrian Gonzalez, batting cleanup with Kevin Youkilis fifth. They had been in reverse order Monday, when the Red Sox fielded a close model of their presumed Opening Day lineup against the Yankees.

The Red Sox play St. Louis Sunday. Francona expects the Opening Day lineup to be displayed a few times in the next week.

Still, nothing is set in stone. Sunday's catcher is Jason Varitek; the everyday starter will be Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

It is also Daisuke Matsuzaka's turn to start. He's the No. 5 starter.

Moving Gonzalez to fourth has logic. Francona is not sold on batting three lefties in a row - Gonzalez, David Ortiz at No. 6 and J.D. Drew at No. 7.

He seems prone to keep Crawford, who hit .323 as a No. 3 hitter for Tampa Bay last year, in the No. 3 spot.

"Petey is smack in the middle. We don't want him standing there, taking pitches (so that Ellsbury could steal).''

"We want him to be aggressive. If that means Ellsbury gets only 65 steals and not 70, that's OK.''

In Ellsbury and Crawford, Boston has a rare 1-2 running threat. Francona said he has never been on a team with two such threats, noting that few such teams existed.

A comparison was made to the 1980s Cardinals with Vince Coleman and Willie McGee. Francona played against them with Montreal and the Cubs.

"I never felt a player's speed like I felt McGee's,'' said Francona, who played first base.

"Coming down the line, you could hear him. He had those strides. They had Tommy Herr hitting third and Jack Clark driving everybody in at cleanup.

"McGee was intimidating. They were intimidating.''

Francona hopes and expects Ellsbury and Crawford will have the same effect on opponents. Fantasy baseball owners may want them to pile up the steals, but that is not the priority of the Red Sox, though the numbers are expected to be high.

"They're going to be thrown out, they're going to get picked off, that's going to happen. But percentage (of success) is more important,'' Francona said.

Crawford has stolen 490 bases in his career, in 580 tries. a success rate of 85 percent. He made it 47 of 57 times last year, or 83 percent.

Ellsbury has succeeded on 77 of 90 steal attempts in the last two seasons, including seven of eight in last year's injury-plagued, 18-game showing.

The two-year success rate is 86 percent.

The effects of fast players extend beyond steals to rattling the opponent, forcing pitchers to become preoccupied with holding runners, and opening holes in the infield when runners go in motion.

Pedroia is especially adept at exploiting those holes.

Crawford has said he likes to talk to the man hitting behind him, to make sure his running plans to not interfere with at-bats. Francona said the Red Sox encourage such communication.

Coming back from offseason shoulder surgery, Gonzalez has yet to play back-to-back games. His first taste will come when he plays against Tampa Bay Tuesday night, and serves as the DH Wednesday in a minor league game, where the rules will allow him to hit as frequently as he wants.